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"Always Out-Numbered, Never Out-Fought!" ..... the Philippine Constabulary This is the story of an obscure and heroic quasi-military force that began as a disguised arm of American colonial policy and became a respected Philippine institution. The book details America's first experiment with jungle guerilla warfare and America's first experiment with the use of local native personnel as a police or military force under the command of 'foreigners' - American and European. Both of these military experiments are studied today by West Point officers and cadets, and military historians. At the end of the Spanish - American War the policy of the McKinley administration and the military authorities in the Philippines prohibited the use of the more than 70,000 U.S. troops in the islands, to suppress the nascent Philippine Army, the guerilla bands of independence warriors, and the outlaws, pirates, and brigands who had arisen. Initially the native battles were for Philippine independence, however the conflicts deteriorated into harsh and bloodthirsty attacks on foreign occupiers and peaceful villagers, alike. The Constabulary was, in reality, a small, poorly armed, 'black force' initially acting on behalf of an ineffective U.S. military and a politically infected Philippine Commission. The Constabulary subsequently became an honored Philippine law enforcement organization, respected by both the native Filipinos and U.S. military and political bodies. Hurley, an Honorary Third Lieutenant in the Constabulary, and a respected military historian recounts vividly and dramatically the real origin, handicaps, growth, development, use, strategies, and key battles of this force that many credit with being the single most important element in the Philippines' development of democratic self-rule. [399 pps, 24 photographs and illustrations]